Hinckley AFC assistant manager Paul Tomlinson said this season has been a very good one for his side.
AFC completed their schedule of games with a 2-0 win over Heath Hayes yesterday in a win that was their 27th of the league season.
But although Tomlinson was disappointed at finishing 19 points behind champions Bromsgrove Sporting, he said his players can still be proud of their efforts this season.
He said: “It’s just a little disappointing that although we’ve finished second, we were a long way behind Bromsgrove. I’d like to pay my congratulations to Bromsgrove because they’ve had a fantastic season. To go all season unbeaten is a marvellous achievement.
“But take nothing away from our lads, who have been great. I still maintain that we are the best footballing side in this league on our day, but too many times we’ve tried to play when we need to be a bit more pragmatic in our approach.
“In the last half a dozen games we’ve done that. We’ve tried to tame our game down a little bit and it’s worked.
“That’s something that we’ve got to learn from as coaches and managers and we can go into next year with a bit more of a pragmatic approach when we’re defending rather than playing in and around our box where we’ve given some silly goals away this year.
“If we an tighten that area up then we’ll have a hell of a season next year.”
Tomlinson said the losses of Paul Sullivan and Sam Agar through injury for long spells of the season hurt Hinckley, but admitted that if AFC are to challenge for the title next season they have to be better at the back.
“It’s hard to replace people like Paul Sullivan and Sam Agar but ultimately strikers win you games, but defenders, goalkeepers and defending in the right way win you league titles. That’s what Bromsgrove have done really well this year.
“We’ve conceded double their numbers of goals so therein lies the problem. That’s what we’ve got to work on in pre-season. I think we’ve got the right players to do that in the current squad but it needs some tweaking when we’re out of possession.
“Even games like the other night at Chelmsley. It was a one sided game but we still conceded three goals and that’s not good enough because you can’t go and score five or six every game.
“Sometimes you have to see games out by winning 1-0 or 2-0 and be hard to beat. That’s what teams who win the league do. Bromsgrove have scored a few goals but they’ve kept it really tight at the back and that’s what we’ve got to aim for and achieve next year.”
